Re: [PATCH 1/6] t0018: switch default branch name to main

From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 28, 2025, 14:00 UTC
Message-ID: <b6b60e6b-c06d-4dc6-8722-b53736f8b059@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq5xe81y0i.fsf@gitster.g>

Hi Junio

On 27/08/2025 18:21, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

> Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
>>
>> These tests use "trunk" as the default branch name but the exact
>> name of the branch is incidental to testing if the advice message
>> includes it. ...
> 
> Would't we be better prepared for a future where advice messages may
> start including the current branch name, though, if we made sure we
> are on the branch whose name is known?

The advice message does include the current branch name, that's why the test needs to be updated when we change that name from "trunk" to "main". The sentence above is trying to say that it does not matter what that name is, we just need to check it appears in the advice message. I could see an argument for the tests not depending on git's default branch name if it changed frequently but realistically we're unlikely to change in again in the near future. If we did use a different name in the tests it is just as likely to cause objections and need to be changed as git's default name so I'm not sure it gains us much.

Show 12 quoted lines

>> ... Git 3.0 will change the default branch name to "main"
>> and remove support for GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME so change
> 
> Will it?  I would have expected and hoped that this support won't be
> ripped out.  The political atomosphere to decide if a name is
> "correct" will change over time.  When somebody comes up with a
> reason to burn 'main', just like everybody moved out of 'master' a
> few years ago, wouldn't we be better off to keep this mechanism?
> 
> If we truly believe that we have chosen the forever-perfect name
> that nobody would ever bring up renaming again, we can rip the
> support out.  But I am not that optimistic.

If it's another 20 years until we change the default branch is it really worth supporting this variable until then? I find setting it in tests is mostly pointless boilerplate. When the variable was introduced in 704fed9ea22 (tests: start moving to a different default main branch name, 2020-10-23) it was described as "This `GIT_TEST_*` variable is meant purely for the transitional period while the entire test suite is converted to use `main` as the initial branch name by default." so I was hoping we could remove it.

>> these test to use "main" instead of "topic".
> 
> You meant "trunk" here.

Will fix

Thanks

Phillip

Show 44 quoted lines

>> Signed-off-by: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
>> ---
>>   t/t0018-advice.sh | 8 ++++----
>>   1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/t/t0018-advice.sh b/t/t0018-advice.sh
>> index f68e08d0b14..c695ade4be8 100755
>> --- a/t/t0018-advice.sh
>> +++ b/t/t0018-advice.sh
>> @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
>>   
>>   test_description='Test advise_if_enabled functionality'
>>   
>> -GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME=trunk
>> +GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME=main
>>   export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
>>   
>>   . ./test-lib.sh
>> @@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ test_expect_success 'advice should not be printed when config variable is set to
>>   
>>   test_expect_success 'advice should not be printed when --no-advice is used' '
>>   	q_to_tab >expect <<-\EOF &&
>> -	On branch trunk
>> +	On branch main
>>   
>>   	No commits yet
>>   
>> @@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ test_expect_success 'advice should not be printed when --no-advice is used' '
>>   
>>   test_expect_success 'advice should not be printed when GIT_ADVICE is set to false' '
>>   	q_to_tab >expect <<-\EOF &&
>> -	On branch trunk
>> +	On branch main
>>   
>>   	No commits yet
>>   
>> @@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ test_expect_success 'advice should not be printed when GIT_ADVICE is set to fals
>>   
>>   test_expect_success 'advice should be printed when GIT_ADVICE is set to true' '
>>   	q_to_tab >expect <<-\EOF &&
>> -	On branch trunk
>> +	On branch main
>>   
>>   	No commits yet